


I Miss You (When the Lights Go Out)

by vividemmajeannation



Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 08:39:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14516589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vividemmajeannation/pseuds/vividemmajeannation
Summary: Fix it fic for the series finale because Bonnie Bennett is amazing!After the events of the Series Finale life goes on for Damon and the rest of the Mystic Falls gang...until it doesn't, and then inexplicably it get's better (mostly cannon compliant).





	I Miss You (When the Lights Go Out)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a thank you of sorts for all of the readers who have so graciously liked, commented, and bookmarked my story Truth Hurts (So This Should be Painless) I truly hope you all enjoy it more specific shout out to follow, (staytravelin, Anya, and JustStockton spring immediately to mind). Anyways I know I said I wasn't writing this pair anymore but my muse but I couldn't I hope you all enjoy. Title comes from the amazing Adele song I Miss You. Standard disclaimers I apply I own nothing.

Time passed differently here, or not at all depending on your perspective he supposed. On the one hand it seemed mere moments ago he’d turned up on his brother’s doorstep (technically THEIR doorstep) greeting him once again with “Hello Brother” and his signature smirk. 

To say Stefan had been delighted at his brother’s sudden appearance would be a lie, but not for the same reason as the last time Damon had blown unannounced or invited into Mystic Falls, to Stefan it had been mere days rather than the decades Damon had lived without his brother. Catching Stefan up on everything he missed took ages, they’d stayed up long into the night both somewhat afraid to retire, lest they awaken to find the entire course of events a pleasantly cruel dream. 

Those fears were allayed when the both found themselves in much the same positions as they’d fallen asleep the night before. That had been weeks ago, and while the overwhelming sense of peace he experienced by simply BEING in this place there were a few things that nagged at him...well one thing really, but according to her Bonnie Bennett had stopped being his concern long ago, according to him she would ALWAYS be. 

Mystic Falls had not been kind to the Bennett’s and it had taken more from Bonnie that any person should be asked to bear, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when she’d announced she was leaving, only marginally a shock was the fact that she never came back, not really. Oh she visited, was there for all of the major events in the lives of her friends but it went without saying that for Bonnie Bennet Mystic Falls was no longer home. 

He wasn’t sure, the first time he’d realized things with Bonnie weren’t exactly as they should be… her 40th birthday perhaps? He and Elena had surprised her knowing that Caroline had harassed her into agreeing to celebrate the “Big 40” in the “Big Easy” it was cliché but Caroline was nothing if not convincing (and annoying) and so they found themselves celebrating Bonnie Birthday on Bourbon Street. 

As much of a fuss as Caroline had made of the milestone, he’d expected more of a theme, it wasn’t until he say the birthday girl in question that he finally realized why there wasn’t one…

• Flashback * 

“Happy Birthday, Bon Bon” he’d greeted her, anticipating and not disappointed, by her answering exasperated eye roll. 

“Damon” she replied darkly, before quirking a brow and finally letting a smile through. “It’s good to see you.” 

“ You too Bon, you look...well” he remarked with a frown taking in the unblemished mocha skin, her sparkling green eyes, the beauty and the grace that was Bonnie Bennett...she hadn’t aged a day. The words were out of his mouth before he really considered them “You haven’t aged a day…” his words harsh less observation, than accusation. 

“What have you done to yourself.”

Sighing heavily Bonnie pulled him aside, sparing Elena a brief smile of welcome before dragging Damon aside. “I told Caroline this was a bad idea” she muttered as she pulled him along to what he presumed was the manager’s office. Why Bonnie or Caroline for the matter seemed so at home in this place was another thing he was trying diligently not to think too hard about. 

It made so much more sense now, she called regularly, and wrote sending them long letters and brief postcards alike on her travels, but seldom picture (of herself at least) and she hadn’t visited since the wedding. Marrying Elena had changed things, he knew it would but he’d promised Elena a happily ever after and he intended to ensure that she got just that and Bonnie understood, after all there was nothing between them...not really just an unspoken SOMETHING that always there between them, acknowledged by neither it simply WAS. 

“You’ve been avoiding me” he accused. 

“Of course I have, can you blame me? This was NOT a conversation I really wanted to have” 

“ Yet, here we are.”

“Yet here we are.” she parroted with another sigh “Fine, Damon have it your way what do you want to know?” 

“Why? Why aren’t you aging? What have you done?” he questions flowing more rapidly than he intended a feeling in his chest akin to panic overwhelming him. She had told him she had a life to live and she intended to live it when she’d blown out of town after...well everything, she’d asked him for space and after everything who was he to deny her. But at what cost? 

Looking at her now, still impossibly young and perfectly Bonnie he simply had to know. 

“I didn’t DO anything, I never did anything but think about it Damon think about my life, I’ve died so many times and I always come back...from everything always didn’t that ever seem strange to anyone?” 

“We worked damn hard to get you back.” he cut in. 

“ I KNOW that, I know you did, but Damon...that’s not normal I’ve never been normal and I’m finding out just how far from normal I actually am as I go along. I don’t have any answers for you Damon, no scheming or dark powers at play the situation simply IS. I’m not aging and I’m not sure if I ever will.”  
In all of his years he’d never heard of anything like this, then again there had never been a witch anything like Bonnie Bennett. 

Eliminating the space between them she raised her hand to smooth his furrowed brow. 

“It’s FINE Damon.”

“How is this fine?!” Damon snapped. 

“I’m FINE Damon,” she plowed on ignoring his outburst in its entirety “truly I am.” 

Sighing heavily he let his head rest against hers for a brief moment. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he whispered somewhat brokenly unable to stop himself, if she said she was fine, if this didn’t bother her, why lie? 

“ You’ve always had very firm and fixed and ideas about what was best for me and you’ve been known to extremes to get it Damon, but we don’t work that way anymore, we can’t” 

It hurt to hear the words spoken aloud, but that didn’t make it any less true. He wasn’t a vampire anymore he was a human being, with human frailties and Bonnie was so much more. 

Seeing the look of reluctant acceptance on his face she smiled taking a step back in a gesture he did not appreciated. 

“You’ve gone gray at the temples old man” she teased effortlessly moving them into less treacherous waters. 

“I have it on good authority that I look very distinguished”

“Remind me to tell Caroline she can stop fibbing to you now” she remarked with a snort dragging him with her back to her party. 

Making their way across the room towards the bar where Caroline and Elena looked brief in conversation they joined them grabbing stools at either side of the pair. 

“Damn” Caroline said motioning to a bartender who inexplicably handed the blonde a 20 dollar bill. Which she promptly passed to Elena who took it with a chuckle. 

“No screams, no flames, not a single broken glass, you two just lost me 20 bucks” Caroline sulked. 

“Are you sure it’s you who just lost that $20?” Bonnie teased earning herself an elbow for her efforts.  
“Well Bonnie, I gotta tell you, you look GREAT for our age.” Elena said with a smirk of her own. 

“Did you know about this?” Damon eyed his wife with some suspicion.

“The rather abrupt refusal to even visit anymore coupled with the complete lack of pictures featuring Bonnie was a bit of a tip off….so I asked Caroline.” 

“Who caved like a house of cards.” Bonnie teased with a laugh. 

“You didn’t tell me it was a secret!” Caroline defended indignantly. 

“And no one thought of mentioning it to me?” 

“Not my secret to tell.” Elena replied sipping her drink and grimacing the ice had melted throughout the course of their conversation diluting the liquid unpleasantly.

“Give it here,” Bonnie demanded gesturing for the glass, a slight look of confusion on her face Elena did as she was told giggling as Bonnie took the glass in hand and the ice cubes reformed and the amber liquid in the class rose beyond its initial pour. 

“Witch remember.” Bonnie said with a smile, which turned into a full blown smirk as she took a sip before handing the glass back “membership has it rewards”. 

*End of flashback 

Even now years later the memory brought a smile to his face. Bonnie was Bonnie and he’d often taken great comfort in that. After the cat had been let out of the proverbial bag about her aging, or lack thereof, they’d seen more of her. She’d visited often enough bringing souvenirs and tall tales that were likely anything but, she was a favorite with the kids at the school, when she was in town and was even known to teach classes occasionally, she lived her life, he knew she did and he supposed that would have to be enough, or so he thought. 

The sound of a crack of thunder from inside his closet should have startled him more than it did. Rather than reacting in any way, he merely looked at the door in askance, he was at peace the worries of the world had passed him by but for the life (or death?) of him he could not account for this until a familiar petite form materialized opposite the now open door. 

“You rang, Kraang” Bonnie quipped as if she turned up in the afterlife every day. Then again maybe she did, no telling WHAT that woman got up to in her free time. 

For once Damon was shocked speechless then again Bonnie Bennett had always been one of few who could render him thus. 

Seeing the look of shock still poised on his face she went on “Oh COME ON with all of the “teenage witch” jokes you used to crack you CAN’T tell me you haven’t seen it.”

Sighing heavily she flopped on the bed next to him acting for all the world like there was nothing at all odd about her sudden appearance in his room...in the afterlife. Saving him from having to respond was a knock on the door. 

“Umm, Damon is everything alright in there?” Stefan called from the door eliciting a noise that could only be described as a squeal from the witch (or possible hallucination) at his side, as she bounded towards the door threw it open and all but launched herself at his brother, who to his credit caught her. 

“Bonnie?!” Stefan breathed in shock. 

“Yep” She responded popping the p in that way she’d always been fond of smiling winsomely at his brother looking ludicrously innocent, which he didn’t trust for a second. 

“I take it that was you?” Stefan confirmed motioning towards the closet door she’d left ajar, “Bonnie the Teenage Witch” nice one.” he said with a chuckle. 

“Exactly!” she crowed “see Stefan gets me.”

Seeing Damon still in a state of shock Stefan took pity on him and elected to see if he could get any answers out of the witch in front of them. 

“Not that I’m not thrilled to see you Bonnie, because I am. It’s really good to see you, but what are you doing here?”

“I missed you guys so I decided to visit.” Bonnie said as if it was the most natural thing. 

“Not to put too fine a point on it Bonnie but. Damon and I are dead. Do you want provide a little context as to how this visit is possible? Unless…” he broke off not wanting to voice the thought allowed. 

Bonnie filled in the blanks regardless, “I’m not dead” she supplied “at least not any more than I have been since my stint as anchor to the other side.” 

Electing to completely ignore that conversational landmine Damon once again joined in the conversation. “Then how are you here?”

“I was summoned” she said with obviously feigned solemnity. 

“Summoned how?” Stefan asked.  
“To be fair I was trying to reach out to you all as well but there are several other sides and without an anchor it’s hard to find the right one...it’s also really difficult to get here makes me a little loopy.” 

Well that certainly helped explain her behavior thus far if not her actually sudden appearance. 

“I’m guessing it was Damon.” she said with a yawn making her way back towards the bed. 

“Summoned how?” Damon asked with a smile not at all displeased by the turn of events. 

“My guess was you were thinking about me, really hard.” Grabbing his hand she lifted it to examine ‘this probably helped too.” 

There on his left hand where it had sat for centuries was his ring, not his wedding ring to Elena but rather his daylight ring, the one Emily Bennett had made him...Emily Bennett, Bonnie’s however many greats grandmother. He hadn’t thought about the ring’s appearance with him in the afterlife, it simply just was if he had spared it a thought he’d have likely chalked it up to familiarity he’d worn ring every day, day in and day out for far longer than he’d been without it, but now he wondered if there was more than one reason for it. 

“The Bennett witches have their reasons for everything, and we’ve come to an understanding of sorts since we turned back the hell fire, they’re actually usually really helpful now.” she said with another yawn. “I’m really sorry.” Bonnie said, her words slurring slightly it takes a lot to get here and I was looking for the right location for a while before I actually figured out where you are...I’m really tired.”

“Understood.” Damon said with a smile pulling back the covers effectively tucking in his witch. Even though he didn’t understand not really, still it could wait Bonnie was here and they effectively had all the time in the world. 

“Hey Damon” she called as he ushered his brother towards the door turning the light out as he went, causing him to pause in the door, “I really missed you too.”


End file.
